The modern MOD-scene is a friendly, care-and-share alike community consisting of programmers producing free software, composers sharing their music for free and those who simply love the music. Thanks to software emulation, there’s no need for original hardware any more – though many do still insist on using classic technology for their musical needs.

This will be a two-part guide, with hardware, samples and VSTs coming next week.

Whilst each tracker is different, the methodology behind making music is virtually identical on each piece of software. The most noticeable difference between standard audio software and a music tracker is the way the track is constructed – vertically, as opposed to horizontally – but there’s far more to it than that.

Notes then adjust the pitch of the samples in order to match them to musical notes, allowing you to construct complex patterns of varying notes with only a handful of samples. Effects go hand in hand with notes, as these are commands added to the end of the note to instruct it to play arpeggio, vibrato, portamento and so on.

A pattern consists of multiple tracks playing at once to make up part of a song, whilst the order defines when each pattern plays, for how long and specifying other options like whether each pattern should be looped or not. These are the basics, and once they’re firmly implanted in your head then the only thing holding you back is your imagination and eagerness to experiment.

Software

Here are some of the best, completely free music trackers as well as relevant documentation where available.

Based on ModPlug Tracker, OpenMPT (Open ModPlug Tracker) builds on this release with a number of awesome features including support for VST effects and instruments. VST stands for virtual studio technology and allows instruments such as synthesizers and drum kits as well as a number of effects to be used in OpenMPT. This is somewhat special as I haven’t found any other free trackers that provide support.

SunVox aims to be a more contained workstation than Milky or OpenMPT and to achieve this there are a lot of synthesizers and effects bundled from the get-go. In addition to this the software has a particularly flexible architecture, allowing it to perform well on older machines, mobile devices and even smartphones.

Indeed, there are iOS and Android versions available – but they’re going to cost you. If you’re weighing up the purchase then luckily all other versions are free. If you’ve still got an old Windows Mobile or PalmOS device then you’ll be pleased to know SunVox is fully compatible, so why not try it out!

SchismTracker is a free Impulse Tracker clone that aims to recreate the feel and functionality seen in the old DOS application. Whilst Impulse Tracker doesn’t add anything particularly new to the plate (unlike ChibiTracker above) it is very flexible in construction, and according to the author: “Schism will most likely build on any architecture supported by GCC4 (e.g. alpha, m68k, arm, etc.)”

Because you want to play with a tracker and you’re too impatient to download a portable app and run it – introducing SonantLive, a music tracker than runs in your browser! Yes, it works and should give you a basic introduction to patterns, sequences, waves and of course the process behind constructing a pattern.

It’s not necessarily as powerful as the other trackers on this list but then again it’s web-based, designed for fun and completely free. You can even save and load!

Conclusion

There’s simply not enough space here to go into hardware chiptune, the many free samples the web has to offer or all the gorgeous VST instruments and effects that are floating around for free. You’re going to have to wait for next week in order to enjoy those.

In the meanwhile if you’ve got any other trackers or software you rely on for your chiptune needs then don’t hesitate to add them in the comments below.

Maybe you should also have covered trackers native to (and those emulating) classic systems with capabilities of hardware sound synthesising (ie. the NES, Spectrum, C64 etc.), and thereby aren't simply utilising samples. I'm not saying music created with them are superior in any way, but if you're going to discuss "creating 8-bit(-like) music" I think software of that kind is vital.

Oh god, you made me wanna dig up my old .mod and .s3m collection. Damn you, I think lost it! Man, the hours I used to spend listening to those, had some absolutely astounding tracks, it was amazing what could be done with those. Back before mp3s were even a possibility, I was listening to mods with a 75mhz pentium laptop and screamtracker. I think Winamp even managed to play them in the end. Thanks for a trip down memory lane!